Break On Through To the Other Side Anonymous

After ten weeks of intently studying a wide range of some of literature's greatest authors and their representative works, one is hard pressed to single out only four of these transcendiary pieces from such a distinguished list. However, four of these works, and their authors, truly stand out, subsequently requiring further analysis; William Wordsworth's "Prospectus" to The Recluse, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Biographia Literaria, written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. While these four authors differ greatly in many aspects, including style and technique, one theme that seems to be prevalent in their works is that of Imagination, a grand power that has withstood the ages and lives on even today. Clearly, all of these exemplarily writers find the imagination to be a dominant influence in their work, an attitude substantiated succinctly by Coleridge, as he writes, "The primary IMAGINATION I hold to be the primary agent of all human perception," a powerful quote that demonstrates the influence imagination holds for these authors. The word "primary" is especially important in the previous passage, as Coleridge clearly believes that...